Wireless networking got a huge boost yesterday, when Intel started to include it in its latest chip set. Soon, most people buying a notebook PC will not have to think about whether or not they want to add Wi-Fi: it will be built in as standard. More than a dozen new notebook PCs based on the Centrino chip set were unveiled yesterday, including models from Dell, IBM, Sony, Toshiba, and Britain's RM (Research Machines).

Intel's chief technology officer, Pat Gelsinger, says "Radio Free Intel" should eventually become a standard feature of any device that includes a microprocessor. Where notebook PCs lead, handheld computers, games consoles, mobile phones, TV sets, video recorders and other consumer electronics products will follow.

Traditionally, this type of computer networking has been seen as too difficult for the mass market, but Centrino notebooks connect to Wi-Fi automatically. Gordon Graylish, Intel's director of sales and marketing in Europe, says: "Our goal is to have communicating devices work as simply as a mobile phone. We want to go from having the technology work to having it 'disappear'."

If it works, it is the start of a revolution... but there is a long way to go. And, it must be said, Intel is pushing well ahead of the market. Most people do not have Wi-Fi at home or in the office, and you don't see hordes of notebook PC owners buzzing around the Starbucks and Costa Coffee bars, hotels, and railway stations that are pioneering Wi-Fi hotspots. Intel's approach is more like the baseball field in the Hollywood movie Field of Dreams: "If we build it, they will come."

Intel is therefore putting a massive effort into supporting its strategy. As well as making the chips, it is including software to simplify Wi-Fi connections, doing deals to set up more than 20,000 wireless hotspots (see box), working with hotspot suppliers to ensure interoperability, and investing in other wireless companies. (Intel Capital has $500m to invest.) It is also planning a £300m advertising and marketing campaign for Centrino, its first Radio Free Intel chip set.

Centrino includes a brand new mobile Pentium processor, code-named Banias, as well as the Wi-Fi chip, code-named Calexico. But for the first time, the Pentium is being relegated to a supporting role, if it gets a mention at all.

Centrino has been designed from the ground up for notebook computers, so the emphasis has been on saving power and extending battery life. It should enable users to get through a day's work without stopping to recharge their PCs, which can be done overnight. That's one reason for including the wireless capabilities in the core chip set: Wi-Fi cards consume a lot of power.

Intel says building in Wi-Fi is also cheaper than adding a separate card, provides a more consistent standard, and makes wireless notebooks easier to manufacture - all of which should help drive down prices. Richard Dineen, research director for wireless at the Ovum consultancy in London, expects Centrino to have a lot of appeal to low-cost manufacturers in China. "The high level of integration is a key advantage for assemblers who don't have a high level of skills," he says.

Of course, manufacturers can use the Centrino chip set in different ways. Either they can use it to provide much longer battery life, or they can fit smaller batteries and make smaller devices, or a bit of both. Adrian Horne, PC brand leader at IBM Europe, says Centrino has allowed the company to reduce the thickness of its T40 ThinkPad by half an inch without reducing battery life, "and we can get nine hours with a bay battery. That was inconceivable before, on a full-size notebook".

Not every notebook PC manufacturer will follow Intel's direction. Some will still use high-speed Pentium 4 desktop chips for users who want raw power, and Celerons for budget buyers. Some will use Banias, the Pentium chip from Centrino, with different Wi-Fi options, though if they do, they won't get Intel's marketing support. However, most analysts expect Centrino to take over the mobile market. "From a technology standpoint, it's great stuff," says Isaac Ro, a senior wireless analyst with Aberdeen Group in Boston. "In the next six to 12 months, you're going to see a massive migration to this technology. It doesn't make sense not to do it. I especially expect the Tablet PC market to benefit."

The Tablet PC, launched by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates last November, is the latest attempt to sell PCs that are operated by writing directly on the screen. Since Tablet PCs are designed to be carried around, taken to meetings etc, they should benefit greatly from the Centrino's built-in wireless capabilities, longer battery life, lower heat output and consequent reductions in size, weight and cost.

So far, Tablet PCs have been more successful than expected. "It's already obvious that Gates & Co has scored a hit," Business Week magazine proclaimed last month. Toshiba sold out and had to increase production. But it is still a very small market. Alan Thompson, chief executive of Toshiba in the UK, says: "There was an initial flurry and we couldn't make enough for the first two or three months, but it has settled down a bit now. The Tablet PC is not going to go away, but the price difference people are willing to pay [compared to a notebook] is less than we'd hoped!"

Handheld PCs and mobile phones will not benefit at all, of course, because none of them uses Pentium-style processors. (Too big, too hot, too expensive.) However, Palm and Pocket PC handhelds and mobile phones are in line to get equivalent facilities from Intel XScale chip sets, or rival chip sets expected from the wireless market leader, Texas Instruments. Wi-Fi is not included in Intel's latest mobile chip sets - the ones code-named Bulverde (for handhelds) and Manitoba (for mobile phones). But once the idea has been proven in Centrino, it should not be too hard to add it.

Samsung already sells a mobile phone with built-in Wi-Fi, the Nexio S155, though only in South Korea. It's an attractive idea because users can make free phone calls over the net using VoIP (Voice over IP) software, as well as getting high-speed access to data.

Consumer electronics manufacturers are also looking at Wi-Fi as a way of networking things in the home. Toshiba has Wi-Fi in its offices and Thompson has already installed a Toshiba WBG 1200 wireless broadband gateway, which combines a Wi-Fi hub with an ADSL modem, at home.

"Wireless is now the ubiquitous thing for me," says Thompson, "and ubiquitous networking is now a central part of our strategy. We think people will want to beam stuff to various parts of their house, such as getting the internet to a small screen in the kitchen, or beaming a movie from a hard-disk video recorder or PC to a video projector in another room. It will definitely change the way the home works, and that's a big market."

Intel certainly hopes so. At the moment, about 80% of its turnover comes from PCs, and the PC market is stagnant. It really wants to be big in the non-PC markets that have the potential to grow rapidly, and Wi-Fi looks like the obvious route. Ovum's Richard Dineen says: "It's a key indicator that Intel sees which way the wind is blowing, and it's blowing towards wireless. They are really smart. They understand the importance of making a bold manoeuvre here, not clinging to an industry that's not growing."

Isaac Ro, from Aberdeen Group, agrees that "the home networking piece is the seed ground", but is worried by the conference calls about Centrino that he has shared with journalists from leading US publications. "Reporters aren't quite getting the message," he says politely. He thinks Intel may be "under-serving the technology by not putting enough marketing behind it."

Andy Brown, research manager for mobile computing at market analyst IDC, is also sceptical and asks himself: "Is Intel's marketing push going to be strong enough? Hmmm. They'll make sure it is. There you go! It's Intel. They can't afford to let this one slip, and I don't think they're going to."

Hot for hotspots As part of its Centrino marketing push, Intel is trying to increase the number of Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless "hotspots" where users with portable computers - notebooks or handhelds - can connect to the internet. In the UK, Intel and Ericsson are supporting Inspired Broadcast Networks' plan to create the biggest wireless network in Europe, with hotspots in 3,000 pubs throughout the UK.

IBN's Wi-Fi network, called The Cloud, will be based on a network of Leisure Link games terminals that already have broadband connections. Leisure Link has 90,000 pay-to-play machines in 30,000 locations in the UK. BT Openzone, which has hotspots in Costa Coffee shops, will be the first ISP to offer commercial services on The Cloud, starting in July. See www.inspiredtg.com/product_cloud_overview.html.

T-Mobile is also rolling out a network of 56 hotspots in Starbucks coffee shops in the UK. It will reach 21 towns by the end of May. T-Mobile already offers about 2,100 hotspots in the US. See www.t-mobile.com/hotspot.

In the US, Cometa Networks plans to open 20,000 Wi-Fi access points, or 10 times as many as T-Mobile has today. Cometa - formerly known as Project Rainbow - is backed by Intel Capital, AT&T and IBM, with investments from Apax Partners and 3i. See www.cometanetworks.com.

Some cities are also planning to install Wi-Fi as a public utility. The leading example at the moment is the small medieval town of Zamora in Spain, in a project that is also being backed by Intel. However, Adelaide, in South Australia, has much more ambitious plans for a Wi-Fi network for up to a million people. Long Beach, California, already has a free Wi-Fi network covering several blocks downtown.. There are also numerous community projects all over the world, including the UK, with Portland, Oregon, leading the way.

Wi-Fi may never reach the level of coverage provided by mobile phone systems such as GSM, but it does not have to. Mobile phones became popular for use away from people's homes and offices: with Wi-Fi networks, the pattern is reversed. The vast majority of Wi-Fi connections will be made in people's homes and offices. Hotspots are just the icing on the cake.